Teachers at LSR against autonomy for college

Teachers at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women have come out in opposition to autonomy for the college.

The reaction has come in response to various reports that the ministry of human resource development and the University Grants Commission are working on a plan to grant autonomy to a few Delhi University colleges.

If granted autonomy, the colleges can decide their own curriculum. Evaluation will also become their responsibility. Autonomous colleges are also expected to have higher fee as compared to government-funded colleges.

A meeting of the staff association at LSR was held on Tuesday where the principal of the college, who is also a member of UGC, assured teachers that the college had not applied for autonomy. The teachers had written to the UGC in July arguing against autonomy for the college.

“In the present context, when massive changes in DU have been pushed through without consultation with teachers and all dissent crushed, we fear that our opinion will be totally disregarded by the UGC,” said a statement issued by the association.

The teachers expressed their “downright opposition to the idea of LSR College becoming autonomous, academically or in any other way from Delhi University.” “After a great deal of reading, reflection and research, we have concluded that academic autonomy is only a fig leaf for profiteering by market forces in the arena of higher education,” the letter read.